Female cancer patients reveal impact on sex life

Women who have treatment for gynaecological cancers typically experience a decrease in future sexual activity. While many may already know or suspect that this is the case, a new study reveals the true extent of such treatment's effect on a female's sex life.

Research carried out at the University of Colorado Cancer Center and presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology set out to explore how chemotherapy, radiation treatment and gynaecological surgery affected a woman's sexual future.

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Co-author of the study Saketh Guntupalli commented: 'It is a topic that not many people want to talk about because it is uncomfortable.

'However, for us, it is about maintaining the quality of life after treatment for couples that have gone through it.'

The team of doctors asked 315 females about their sexual health in a survey involving 181 questions. It was designed to assess their sexual and marital relationships both before and after they received treatment for cancer of the cervix, uterus, ovaries, vagina or vulva.

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It was found that following gynaecological cancer treatment, women typically had sex between 2.6 and 4.9 times per month. To put this into perspective, before diagnosis, the average was between 6.1 and 6.8 times per month, indicating a significant decrease in sexual activity.

The results also showed that women who were yet to go through the menopause were more likely to experience sexual dysfunction, while chemotherapy was the treatment most likely to adversely affect a female's sex life.

However, marital relationships did not tend to be adversely affected after cancer treatment.

Mr Guntupalli explained that relationship counselling could be one option to help women to continue to enjoy an active sex life with their partner following cancer treatment.

'If we can catch those patients that may have problems up front and offer interventions, especially younger couples, it can really enhance life after cancer.'

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